We Can Build You

Tom Shippey reviews "Eye in the Sky" by Philip K. Dick, and "How to Build An Android" by David F. Dufty.

By

Tom Shippey

Aug. 17, 2012 4:40 p.m. ET

One of the occupational hazards, or bonuses, of being a sci-fi author is that you may find yourself turning into a guru. The most obvious example is L. Ron Hubbard, creator of Scientology, but in different ways it happened as well to Ayn Rand, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein—and, least likely of them all, Philip K. Dick.

Dick had a 30-year authorial career, from 1952 until his death in 1982, during which he wrote hundreds of short stories and 40-plus novels—a selection of which Mariner Books began reissuing last year. He...